Posted by miri On 7 August, 2008
How cool is this? Someone “looking over photos of galaxies on the Internet” might have discovered a new type of object in space.
Van Arkel is a 25-year-old schoolteacher in Heerlen, The Netherlands, not an astrophysicist. But her startling find — a mysterious and unique object some observers are calling a “cosmic ghost” — has captivated astronomers and even caught the attention of the Hubble Space Telescope, which has agreed to take a closer look next year.
Posted by miri On 5 August, 2008
My favorite thing about reports like this is that we always assume life has to be like us.
NASA’s Phoenix lander has discovered a toxic chemical in soil near Mars’ north pole, dimming hopes for finding life on the Red Planet, the probe’s operators said Monday.
The chemical, perchlorate, is an oxidant widely used in solid rocket fuel. Researchers are still puzzling over the results and checking to make sure the perchlorate wasn’t carried to Mars from Earth, the University of Arizona-based science team said.
Posted by miri On 4 August, 2008
Sheesh!
Wondering what airlines will charge you for next? Try pillows and blankets.
JetBlue Airways said Monday that it would sell a pillow and blanket set for $7 on flights of two hours or more. The set, which passengers can take home, includes a 10-by-12 inch pillow and a fleece blanket, which fit into a carrying case.
The kits also come with a $5 coupon for Bed Bath & Beyond.
Now that it has begun selling the kit, JetBlue has done away with the pillows and blankets it used to distribute.
Posted by miri On 2 August, 2008
This is disturbing.
The United States has significantly underreported the number of new H.I.V. infections occurring nationally each year, with a study released here on Saturday showing that the annual infection rate is 40 percent higher than previously estimated.
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Health Guide: AIDSThe study, conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, found that 56,300 people became newly infected with H.I.V in 2006, compared with the 40,000 figure the agency has cited as the recent annual incidence of the disease.
Posted by miri On 2 August, 2008
An excellent article looking at the challenges facing the McCain campaign and their recent round of mud-slinging.
Is Mudslinging the Only Way John McCain Can Win? — New York Magazine
The racial undertones of this assault are subtle but undeniable, as Obama himself suggested when he asserted last week that his opponents are trying to make voters “scared†of him because he “doesn’t look like the other presidents on the currency.†They’re most glaring in “Troops,†which features footage of Obama sinking a three-pointer in Kuwait, despite the fact that the shot took place at a military base, which undermines the ad’s argument. But the spot’s deeper aim is to foster an unconscious simile: Obama as a blinged-up, camera-hungry, NBA shooting guard, Allen Iverson with a Harvard Law degree. Am I reaching? Consider this: Would the ad have featured footage of Obama on a golf course draining a hole-in-one? “No, it wouldn’t,†laughs a GOP media savant. “The racial angle is the first thing I thought of when I saw that ad. It fits into the celebrity stuff, too.â€
Posted by miri On 1 August, 2008
Someone sees the light…
A few months ago, I wrote that John McCain was an honorable man and he would run an honorable campaign. I was wrong. I used to think, as David Ignatius does, that McCain’s true voice was humble and moderate, but now I’m beginning to think his Senate colleagues may be right about his temperament.
Posted by miri On 31 July, 2008
The Phoenix spacecraft has tasted Martian water for the first time, scientists reported Thursday. By melting icy soil in one of its lab instruments, the robot confirmed the presence of frozen water lurking below the Martian permafrost. Until now, evidence of ice in Mars’ north pole region has been largely circumstantial.
Posted by miri On 31 July, 2008
Nathan Kensinger generally does not ask for permission when he photographs the decaying remnants of Brooklyn’s industrial waterfront. Since 2003, he has wandered into shuttered factories, padlocked basements and forbidding warehouses. He often goes along with other photographers who have an adventurous bent. He hasn’t been arrested, yet, but he doesn’t want to tempt fate, either.
Mr. Kensinger’s photographs are now on view in a small exhibition, “Twilight on the Waterfront: Brooklyn’s Vanishing Industrial Heritage,” that opened on June 17 and runs through Aug. 30 at the central branch of the Brooklyn Public Library.
Check out a slide show of some stunning photos.
Posted by miri On 28 July, 2008
The White House predicted on Monday that the Bush administration would bequeath a record deficit of $482 billion to the next president — a sobering turnabout in the nation’s fiscal condition from 2001 when President Bush took office and inherited three consecutive years of budget surpluses.
By most accounts, the worst seems yet to come. The deficit announced by Jim Nussle, the White House budget director, does not reflect the full cost of military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the potential $50 billion cost of another economic stimulus package or the prospect of steeper losses in tax revenue or further declines in the housing market.
(emphasis mine)
Posted by miri On 28 July, 2008
Senior aides to former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales broke the law by using politics to guide their hiring decisions for a wide range of important department positions, slowing the hiring process at critical times and damaging the department’s credibility and independence, an internal report concluded Monday.